Reinforcing patch

ABSTRACT

A reinforcing patch for reinforcing an opening through sheet material including a pair of spaced plate members interconnected by a hinge member to form a U-shaped reinforcing patch and with a pair of openings extending in line through both plate members and with a plurality of teeth extending inwardly from each plate member and with the teeth spaced around the periphery of the opening in each plate member. The plate members are positioned on opposite sides of the sheet material and with the teeth extending into the opening through the sheet material. The invention also includes the use of a loop member integral with and extending from the hinge member. In addition, the teeth may abut each other in the opening or the teeth may interlock within the opening through the sheet material.

tlnited States atent [191 SantAnselmo 1 REINFORCING PATCH [76] Inventor:Robert SantAnselmo, 1 1001 Wagner St., Culver City, Calif.' 90230 [22]Filed: June 19, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 264,025

Mauchline 40/11 R Dec. 11, 1973 Primary Examiner-Lawrence CharlesAssistant ExaminerWenceslao J. Contreras Attorney-Charles H. Schwartz etal.

[57] ABSTRACT A reinforcing patch for reinforcing an opening throughsheet material including a pair of spaced plate members interconnectedby a hinge member to form a U-shaped reinforcing patch and with a pairof openings extending in line through both plate members and with aplurality of teeth extending inwardly from each plate member and withthe teeth spaced around the periphery of the opening in each platemember. The plate members are positioned on opposite sides of the sheetmaterial and with the teeth extending into the opening through the sheetmaterial. The invention also includes the use of a loop member integralwith and extending from the hinge member. In addition, the teeth mayabut each other in the opening or the teeth may interlock within theopening through the sheet material.

9 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PAIENIEUUEC 11 1975 3777378 REINFORCINGPATCH The present invention is directed to a reinforcing patch forreinforcing an opening through sheet material. For example, the sheetmaterial may be a business form composed ofa plurality of sheets, or thesheet material may be a single sheet.

As an example, it may be desirable to attach the business form to aproduct or a container for a product, for example, to accompany theproduct during the manufacture of that product or during the packagingor shipment of that product and with the different individual sheets ofthe business form being removed at periodic times. In the past, thebusiness form would include an opening, usually near the top edge of thebusiness form, which opening could be used for attachment of thebusiness form to the product. For example, a wire may be passed throughthe opening to provide attachment of the form to the product, or theopening may be used to pass over a hanger such as a nail associated withthe product or the container for the product.

It is obvious that the business form, which is usually constructed ofpaper, does not have great strength and that the business form may belost since the opening through the form can tear or break and thebusiness form may therefore become detached from the product. Thepresent invention is directed to a reinforcing patch for use with sheetmaterial such as a business form and which provides for a reinforcementof the opening through the business form. Additionally, the reinforcingpatch of the present invention may also include an integral loop whichcould facilitate the attachment of the business form to a particularproduct. For example, the loop may be formed as two members which may beinterconnected so that the loop could be placed around a portion of theproduct and then locked together.

The particular design of the reinforcing patch of the present inventionincludes a pair of spaced plate members which are interconnected along afirst side portion by a hinge member. The spacing between the platemembers may correspond to the thickness of the sheetmaterial which is.to be reinforced. The plate members have openings extending therethroughand with these openings in line to correspond to the. opening throughthe sheet material.

A plurality of teeth extend inwardly from each plate member and with theteeth spaced around the periphery of the openings in each plate memberand with the teeth having an outer configuration conforming to theconfiguration of the opening through the sheet material. The platemembers may be positioned on opposite sides of the sheet material andwith the teeth extending into the opening through the sheet material soas to lock the reinforcing patch on the sheet member. The teeth may beflexible and abut each other or the teeth may be interlocking so as toextend into the opening in the sheet material for interlocking withinthis opening. The inner surfaces of the plate members may have gripperportions extending outwardly so as to grip the sheet material.

The reinforcing patch of the present invention generally has the platemembers, hingemember and teeth all integrally formed of a flexibleplastic and with the loop member also integrally formed of the sameplastic. A clearer understanding of the invention will be had withreference to the following description and drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a reinforcing patch of the present inventionincluding an integral loop used for reinforcing sheet material which isspecifically shown to be a business form;

FIG. 2 illustrates a front view of a reinforcing patch without anintegral loop;

FIG. 3 illustrates a side view of the reinforcing patch of the presentinvention including a first form of inwardly extending teeth;

FIG. 4 illustrates a side view of the reinforcing patch illustrating asecond form of inwardly extending teeth;

FIG. 5 illustrates a front view of a reinforcing patch including a firstform of an integral loop; and

FIG. 6 illustrates a front view of the reinforcing patch illustrating asecond form of an integral loop.

In FIG. 1, a reinforcing patch 10 is shown reinforcing an opening 12through sheet material 14. The sheet material 14 may be composed of aplurality of sheets or may be a single sheet. The reinforcing patch 10includes a body portion 16 and, as shown in FIG. 1, also includes anintegral loop 18. The reinforcing patch 10 with the integral loop 18 maybe formed from a flexible plastic material. The reinforcing patch asapplied to the business form 14 provides for an attachment of thebusiness form to a product, either through the use of the reinforcedopening 12 on through the use of the integral'loop 18. I

In FIG. 2, a front view of a reinforcing patch 50 is shown, whichreinforcing patch does not include a loop member and provides forreinforcement of an opening in sheet material such as a business form.The appear ance of the reinforcing patch 50 is substantially identicalfrom both sides. The reinforcing patch 50 is formed from a substantiallysquare plate member 52 having a raised circular area 54 and with anopening 56 extendingtherethrough. The circular area 54 is basicallysymbolic to represent that the patch is for reinforcing a generallycircular opening. It is to be appreciated that the opening 56 may takeother configurations other than circular and that the patch 50 has anopening which conforms in configuration to the opening through the'business form. It is also to be appreciated that the outer shape of thepatch 50, as shown by the substantially square portion 52, is arbitraryand may take other shapes, such as circular, rectangular, triangular,etc. 1

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate two alternative forms for the innerconstruction of the reinforcing patch of the present invention. In FIG.3, the reinforcing patch includes a pair of plate members and 102interconnected by a hinge portion 104. The plate members 100 and 102 arespaced apart a particular distance which would be substantiallyidentical to the thickness of the sheet material to be reinforced. Theinner surfaces 108 and 110 of the sheet members 100 and 102 have anirregular configuration and generally include portions extendingoutwardly to formgripper surfaces. It is to be appreciated that theplate members 100 and 102 when slipped over sheet material to be onopposite sides of the sheet material would have these gripper surfaces108 and 110 in contact with the sheet material to provide for additionalgripping of the sheet material.

The main locking of the reinforcing patch shown in FIG. 3 to the sheetmaterial is through the use of a plurality of teeth 112 extending fromthe inner surface of the plate 100 and a plurality of teeth 114extending from the inner surface of the plate 102. The teeth 112 and 114extend inwardly around the periphery of openings 116 and 118 through theplate members 100 and 102. When the plate members 100 and 102 areslipped over the sheet material to be reinforced, such as sheet material14 shown in FIG. 1, the teeth 112 and 114 will extend into the openingthrough the sheet material, such as opening 12 shown in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 3, the teeth are shown to be flexible so as to bend away as thereinforcing patch is pushed over the sheet material. When the teethenter the opening they snap into position within the opening through thesheet material, such as opening 12in sheet material 14 shown in FIG. 1.As an alternative, the plate members 100 and 102 may be flexed apartalong hinge member 104 so as to easily position the reinforcing patcharound the opening in the sheet material so as to provide thereinforcement. It can be seen in FIG. 3 that if the plate members 100and 102 are flexed inwardly, the teeth 112 and 114 will abut each other.

In FIG. 4, a second embodiment of a reinforcing patch is shown, whichsecond embodiment includes interlocking teeth members. In FIG. 4, platemembers 150 and 152 are interconnected by a hinge member 154. The platemembers include openings 156 and 158 which are in line and with aplurality of teeth 160 extending inwardly from plate 150 and surroundingopenings 156, and a plurality of teeth 162 extending inwardly from plate152 and surrounding opening 158. The teeth 160 have recessed portions164 which receive ridge portions 166 of the teeth 162 so as to providefor an interlocking between the teeth 160 and 162 when the plate members150 and 152 are pushed inwardly toward each other.

Normally, the reinforcing patch of FIG. 4 would be slipped over thesheet material such as sheet material 14 shown in FIG. 1 and with theteeth 160 and 162 entering the opening such as opening 12 shown inFIG. 1. The reinforcing patch is locked in position bysqueezing theplate members 150 and 152 toward each other until the teeth 160 receivein interlockingrelationship the teeth 162.

FIGS. and 6 illustrate two variants for a loop which may be integrallyextended from the hinge member portion of the reinforcing patch. FIG. 5illustrates basically the same loop member 18 shown in FIG. 1 and it canbe seen that the length of this loop member may be varied so as to beused in the attachment of the business form to different desiredlocations. The loop 18 is integrally formed with the reinforcing patch,and the entire structure, including the plate members, hinge member,teeth and loop member, may be integrally formed from plastic materialwhich is flexible.

FIG. 6 illustrates a loop member formed from two integral portions 170and 172. The end of portion 170 is a male plug member 174 which isreceived in a female member 176 for interconnection so as to form a loopmember. It is to be appreciated that the loop member as shown in FIG. 6may be used for placing the loop around an object and then locking theloop and the attached business form in position by interlocking the maleand female members 174 and 176.

The present invention is therefore directed to a rein-.

forcing patch which may include an integral loop member and with thepatch formed of a pair of spaced plate members inter-connected by ahinge member and with the thickness of the sheet material.

inwardly extending teeth to engage an opening through sheet material.The reinforcing patch of the present invention is simple to manufacturesince it may be molded and with a simple attachment to the sheetmaterial to be reinforced since the plate members are slipped over thesheet member until the teeth engage and lock into the opening throughthe sheet material. The opening through the sheet material, such as thebusiness form, is therefore reinforced and the business form may beattached by using wire or string which passes through the reinforcedopening or the business form may be attached by using an integrallyformed flexible loop member.

Although the invention has been described with reference to particularembodiments, it is to be appreciated that various adaptations andmodifications may be made and the invention is only to be limited by theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A reinforcing patch for reinforcing an opening through sheetmaterial, including a pair of spaced plate members interconnected alonga first side portion by a hinge member to form a U shaped reinforcingpatch,

a pair of openings extending in line through both plate members,

a plurality of teeth extending inwardly from each plate member andspaced around the periphery of the openings in each plate member andwith the outer configuration formed by the plurality of teeth spacedaround the opening in each plate member conforming to the configurationof the opening through the sheet material to have the spaced platemembers positioned in opposite sides of the sheet material and with theteeth extending into the opening through the sheet material and with theteeth flexible to bend away when the reinforcing patch is slipped overthe sheet material and to snap into the opening through the sheetmaterial.

2. The reinforcing patch of claim 1 wherein the hinge member is formedof plastic and including an integral plastic loop extending from thehinge member.

3. The reinforcing patch of claim 2 wherein the loop is formed from twointercoupling members each integral with the hinge member.

4. The reinforcing patch of claim 1 wherein the plate members, hingemember and teeth are all integrally formed from plastic.

5. The reinforcing patch of claim 1 wherein the inner surface of theplate members is irregular to form grippers. I

6. The reinforcing patch of claim 1 wherein the outer configurationsformed by the plurality of teeth on each plate member are substantiallyidentical to have the teeth abut when the plate members are flexedinwardly.

7. The reinforcing patch of claim 1 wherein the teeth on one platemember are designed to interlock with the teeth on the other platemember when the plate members are flexed inwardly.

8. The reinforcing patch of claim 1 wherein the plate members, hingemember and teeth are all integrally formed from flexible plastic andincluding an integral plastic loop extending from the hinge member.

9. The reinforcing patch of claim 1 wherein the spacing between theplate members is substantially equal to

1. A reinforcing patch for reinforcing an opening through sheetmaterial, including a pair of spaced plate members interconnected alonga first side portion by a hinge member to form a U-shaped reinforcingpatch, a pair of openings extending in line through both plate members,a plurality of teeth extending inwardly from each plate member andspaced around the periphery of the openings in each plate member andwith the outer configuration formed by the plurality of teeth spacedaround the opening in each plate member conforming to the configurationof the opening through the sheet material to have the spaced platemembers positioned in opposite sides of the sheet material and with theteeth extending into the opening through the sheet material and with theteeth flexible to bend away when the reinforcing patch is slipped overthe sheet material and to snap into the opening through the sheetmaterial.
 2. The reinforcing patch of claim 1 wherein the hinge memberis formed of plastic and including an integral plastic loop extendingfrom the hinge member.
 3. The reinforcing patch of claim 2 wherein theloop is formed from two intercoupling members each integral with thehinge member.
 4. The reinforcing patch of claim 1 wherein the platemembers, hinge member and teeth are all integrally formed from plastic.5. The reinforcing patch of claim 1 wherein the inner surface of theplate members is irregular to form grippers.
 6. The reinforcing patch ofclaim 1 wherein the outer configurations formed by the plurality ofteeth on each plate member are substantially identical to have the teethabut when the plate members are flexed inwardly.
 7. The reinforcingpatch of claim 1 wherein the teeth on one plate member are designed tointerlock with the teeth on the other plate member when the platemembers are flexed inwardly.
 8. The reinforcing patch of claim 1 whereinthe plate members, hinge member and teeth are all integrally formed fromflexible plastic and including an integral plastic loop extending fromthe hinge member.
 9. The reinforcing patch of claim 1 wherein thespacing between the plate members is substantially equal to thethickness of the sheet material.